Just hours before the lighting of the ceremonial Olympic cauldron, Nodar Kumaritashvili of the Republic of Georgia suffered a fatal accident during a luge practice run.

“Our first thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of the athlete. The whole Olympic Family is struck by this tragedy, which clearly casts a shadow over these Games”, IOC President Jacques Rogge said in a statement.

Kumaritashvili, 21, lost control of his sled while traveling down the track at 80 mph.  He was catapulted from his sled and into an unpadded rafter while making the final turn, which is nicknamed Thunderbird.

An emergency medical team performed CPR until a nearby ambulance arrived.  The young Olympian was flown by helicopter to the Whistler trauma center, who later pronounced the athlete dead.

“It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16. This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident. The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track,” Olympic officials said in a written statement.

Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death marks the third fatality in Winter Olympics history.